


The Missing Lego Piece

by TheDisneyOutsider



Series: Iron Dad and His Spider-Son [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Disagreements, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fighting with Friends, Legos are Serious Business, Ned Leeds Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDisneyOutsider/pseuds/TheDisneyOutsider
Summary: Peter and Ned get into an absolutely ridiculous fight. Tony helps smooth things over.
Relationships: Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Iron Dad and His Spider-Son [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796242
Comments: 7
Kudos: 151





	The Missing Lego Piece

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you are all having a lovely start to your week!
> 
> When I have no wifi all weekend, random fics like this are born! Enjoy!
> 
> (Also, I know next to nothing about Star Wars, or their Lego sets... just go with me on the accuracy of what I've written, okay?)

It was a dark and stormy night, okay well it was actually day, but Peter felt like he was at the beginning of a horror story after the day he had. The gloomy weather just added to the feeling.

It had all started out relatively normal. He and Ned had walked to school, stopped at their favourite doughnut shop along the way, and made it to their lockers with ten minutes to spare, plenty of time to challenge each other to the new game they had both downloaded on their phones.

Peter had gotten an A on the paper he got back in English class, they had been informed of an upcoming field trip to the Natural History Museum, and they were serving his favourite meal in the cafeteria.

Suffice it to say, when he sat down with his tray at his usual spot beside Ned, he was feeling pretty happy. That’s why the question that came out of Ned’s mouth next was unexpected.

“Hey, by the way, do you have that shooter piece of the Millennium Falcon? I mostly finished it last night, but I need that piece now.”

Peter scrunched up his face in confusion and shrugged his shoulders, “No, why would I have that piece?”

“I’m pretty sure you do have it because when we started it last week, you picked it up and said you were going to keep it with you for safety,” Ned reminded him, furrowing his brow just the slightest.

“I was kidding about that, Ned. I only said it because it’s the most important piece of that set and I knew you wouldn’t be able to finish it without me if I had it, which obviously you had no trouble doing anyway,” Peter was starting to get the slightest bit agitated now.

“Oh, so you do admit that you took it then! And I only finished it without you because you’re, like, never free to help me. You’re either out as _you know who_ every night, or messing around in the lab with Mr. Stark.”

“We don’t _mess around_ , we work! And _no_ , I _just_ finished saying I only joked about that, I’d never actually separate a piece from it’s set! I’m not an animal!” His voice was beginning to raise, this had to be one of the absolute dumbest arguments in the history of the universe, and Thor had told him about some pretty crazy galactic feuds!

“Fine, Peter, don’t tell me where you put it then, but don’t expect me to let you help when I get a new Lego set,” Ned angrily declared, picking up his lunch and standing up.

“See if I care, Tony will just buy me my own!” It was a low blow, and Peter knew that he most likely would never even accept a gift like that from Tony without some serious persuasion from the older man, but he was angry and hurt and the words spilled out anyway.

“You do that! Go live your life with your new _friend... mentor..._ _FATHER_ _,_ what even is he at this point? Maybe you should figure that out too,” Ned spat, then stomped away.

“He’s _not_ my father,” Peter hissed at his friend’s retreating form. Seeing that the boy wasn’t coming back, he slumped in his chair and huffed, suddenly not hungry any longer. How could his day take such an awful turn in a matter of minutes?

From down the table, Peter could see MJ staring at him, almost a hint of concern could be found in her features if you looked hard enough. He was suddenly worried just how loud they had been talking, and how much the surrounding people might have heard. Not that they had let anything slide _he didn’t think._ Most people knew about his internship, and that he hung out with Tony Stark, whether they believed him or not, and Peter was almost certain that Ned hadn’t used Spider-Man’s name. The thought that any of his classmates had witnessed their stupid fight, however, somehow just made the whole thing feel even worse.

By the end of the day, Peter was _done._ Ned hadn’t so much as glanced in his direction in any of their remaining classes, and he had been called on by two separate teachers for not paying attention. By the end of the day, he had nearly forgotten he was meant to go to the tower for his and Tony’s weekly tinker session. At this point, he wished he could skip it altogether and go hide in his room for the remainder of the day, which in itself was telling just how terrible he felt. He _lived_ for lab time with Tony.

Happy was waiting for him outside the building at three-fifteen, however, so instead of cancelling, he slid into the backseat and greeted Happy with as much energy as he could muster. He was resigned to the fact that he’d have to pull together some form of small talk in order to not cause any suspicion. The last thing Peter needed right now was Happy notifying Tony that something was wrong and being hounded as soon as he got to the lab.

“Hey kid, I need to make a few phone calls for the boss. You okay with me putting up the divider for the drive?”

Okay, maybe something was on his side.

“Yeah Happy, no problem, I’ve got homework anyway.”

He didn’t work on homework. He didn’t do anything except stare out the window miserably and watch as two raindrops raced down the glass. Even the raindrop he was rooting for lost.

Happy was still on a call when they pulled up to the tower, so Peter got out silently and entered the building. Friday immediately taking him up to the lab where he would be meeting Tony.

He dragged his feet through the glass doors, and he immediately heard Tony’s music lower to nearly inaudible. A feature Tony had installed to make sure the kid’s senses were never accidentally overloaded. Peter was grateful for the quiet. His head felt miserable and his stomach churned.

“Hey, Kid,” Tony greeted cheerily, and then turned to face him, “Woah, who’s dog died?”

Okay, so maybe Peter wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he had thought.

“What? No one’s,” Peter chose to play it cool, shrugging past his mentor to put his things down at his work station.

“Then why do you look like you both want to bite my head off and cry into my shoulder?” Tony followed after him, grabbing his arm gently in an attempt to get the boy to look at him once more.

Peter pulled away, “I don’t _look_ like anything,” he snapped, “Can we get to work?”

Tony was taken aback, looking at Peter with intensity, as if he was trying to figure him out.

“Okay, two things, one, nobody who talks to me like that gets to work in my lab and two, nobody who’s this upset gets to work with dangerous machinery and chemicals anyway,” Tony lectured lightly, “So, I suggest you just tell me what’s bothering you and get it out of the way because I will get it out of you one way or another, kid.”

The stare-off between mentor and mentee lasted all of thirty seconds before Peter lost all resolve. He sighed, dropping into his chair.

“I— I didn’t eat lunch,” he finally chose to say. At this point, it seemed like the easiest thing to fix.

Tony nodded once, “Let’s go to the kitchen then. One double-decker PB&J sandwich coming up.”

Peter consumed the sandwich, along with a banana and a helping of chips, in silence, before his mentor turned to him from where they were both sat at the island of the kitchen.

“Do you feel better?”

Peter nodded wordlessly, draining the last of his glass of milk.

“Alright, now do you feel up to talking about what’s really bothering you, because I’ve seen you _hangry_ before, kiddo, and you never look that beat up.”

Peter huffed. He didn't really feel like talking about this, but he knew Tony wasn't going to let up.

“I—we, Ned and I,” he sighed, “We had a fight.”

“Did you greet him with the same sunshine-y attitude you were giving me?” Tony joked, though really, he was surprised. In the amount of time he had known the kid, he had never heard an ill word spoken between him and his friend.

“ _I_ didn’t do anything,” Peter glared, “Well, I mean I didn’t at first as least... I might have said _some_ things after he started coming at me, but—”

“Wait, _Ned_ came after you? What could he have possibly been upset about?”

Peter sighed because he knew that whatever way he worded this, his mentor was going to laugh at them. The whole thing really was ridiculous.

“He accused me of stealing a piece of Lego.”

Tony tried hard, he really did, but soon his shoulders were shaking, and he was fighting hard to try and restrain his laughter.

“For the record I _know_ it’s ridiculous, okay!” Peter rolled his eyes and Tony couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“I’m sorry, kid, I just really do forget you’re just a _kid_ sometimes,” he spoke, wiping his eye.

“It was Ned who started it! Then he said I never have time for him anymore, and that he would do his Lego sets himself from now on. So, I said—” he cut himself off abruptly, “Never mind.”

“Oh no, you’ve gotten this far,” Tony wagged his finger, “What did you say?”

Peter bowed his head, “Don’t be mad.”

Tony shook his head in promise.

“I said it didn’t matter because I’d just get you to buy me my own Lego sets,” he kept his eyes fixed on the floor.

Tony barked out a laugh. “All this time, trying to get you to let me buy you things and you finally use that power!”

“I didn’t actually mean it!” Peter was quick to rectify, “I just _said_ it... because I knew it would hurt Ned. I’m a horrible person!”

Tony shook his head quickly, “You are _not_ a horrible person, Pete. For the record, I _would_ buy you those Lego sets, if you’d ever actually let me, but that’s not the _point_.

“The point is, I knew Ned was jealous of you and me, and that’s why I said it, and that’s why I’m horrible!” Peter reiterated.

“ _Kid_ ,” Tony gave him an unimpressed look, “You had a fight. Friend’s fight, they say things they don’t mean. I guarantee it will blow over.”

Peter slumped, “I hate not talking to him.”

“I know,” Tony patted his back, “Hey, Rhodey and I fought all the time back in college and look at us now!”

“You still fight all the time,” Peter pointed out.

“We _bicker,_ ” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, like an old married couple.”

“Okay, back to talking about your friendship here, not _mine_.” Tony swatted him playfully.

“I don’t know what to do,” Peter admitted.

“Well, What are our options?”

“I can’t give him the Lego piece, because I don’t have it. I seriously didn’t take it, Tony,” the boy said miserably.

“I believe you,” Tony promised, “You’re the most trustworthy person I know.”

“Ned doesn’t seem to think so,” Peter mumbled.

“What if we made a new Lego piece? Do you have a picture of it?”

Peter’s head snapped, “We can do that?”

Tony chuckled, “I’m Tony Stark, kiddo, have you seen the machines I have in that lab of mine?”

Peter jumped up from his chair, “That’s perfect Tony! But wait... If I show up with the piece than he’ll think I was lying.”

Tony shrugged, “He might. All you can do is tell him the truth and offer a solution. Sometimes you have to take a chance. I guess it depends on how much this friendship means to you. Is it worth being the bigger person?”

Peter nodded, “I want to try. Can we go make it now? How long does it take? Wait can we make any Lego pieces? We could build our own sets!”

Tony chuckled, cupping the back of the boy’s neck fondly, “Let’s get downstairs and I’ll show you everything.”

* * *

The next morning Peter stood nervously at their usual meeting spot, Lego in hand, waiting for Ned. The piece had actually turned out better than he had even expected and Tony had promised if things went well with the friends, Peter and Ned could come over sometime and design their own Lego set someday. Another brilliant idea from Tony, a way to make Ned feel less jealous of Peter and Tony’s growing relationship.

Peter spotted Ned walking toward him and let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. A part of him wasn’t sure if the other boy would show up or not. There were many ways to walk to school, and he could have easily avoided him if he had wanted to. That was the first sign that maybe things would end up resolving after all.

“Hey,” Peter greeted first when Ned was in hearing range.

“Hey,” Ned raised his hand in a half-wave.

“Look, Ned—”

“I’m sorry Peter.”

Both boys chuckled.

“Here,” Peter raised the Lego piece up in his hand and handed it to his friend.

“You—wait what?” Ned held up an identical piece in his own hand.

“You found it!” Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, this morning... in my coat pocket,” Ned admitted sheepishly, “I should have never accused you.”

“I never would have lied to you about that Ned, and I definitely would have never just taken something like that from you.”

“I know,” Ned hung his head, “I felt horrible about it all night, even before I found the missing piece. I guess maybe I wasn’t even all that upset over the piece. Maybe I was sort of... missing you a bit.”

Peter nodded, “I’m sorry if I haven’t been that good of a friend. I should have been making time to hang out with you too. This is all still so new, y’know? Patrol and decathlon and school were enough, but now that Mr. Stark and I are spending more time together, and I mean I love spending time with him—”

“You should spend time with him,” Ned said, “Anybody in your shoes would be crazy to turn that down.”

“Someone in my shoes would also be crazy to turn down the opportunity to hang out with a friend as good as you too.”

“I’m no Tony Stark, Peter. I get it.”

“No, you really don’t, Ned. Our friendship is important to me. Just as important as my relationship with Tony. You can even ask him, half the time I don’t shut up about you when I’m there. When I told him we had a fight he couldn’t believe it was even possible.”

“You told _Tony Stark_ that we were fighting over a _Lego_!” Ned exclaimed, horrified.

Peter nodded, “It wasn’t my proudest moment. But, hey, that reminds me! We made that last night!” He said excitedly, pointing to the Lego piece that he had handed Ned.

“You made this!? Seriously? Dude that’s the coolest thing _ever_! It looks exactly the same!”

Peter shrugged, “I knew I didn’t take the piece, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to fix this, and Tony suggested his machines could make another, so...”

Ned examined the piece closer, “This is SO awesome! Can you imagine what else you could make with that machine?”

“I know! I was actually talking about that with Mr. Stark last night! He said you and I could go there sometime and mess around with it! Well, okay, not _mess_ around, because ‘ _Peter these machines are worth more than an entire Apple store’,”_ the boys giggled at Peter’s impression of the man, “But he said we could totally try making something sometime!”

Ned was practically vibrating at this point, “I can’t believe you’re going to bring me to THE Stark Tower to work in THE Tony Stark’s lab! What is my life!?”

“Just promise me you won’t say anything like that when I actually take you, okay,” Peter might die of embarrassment if his friend acted like an overexcited child in Tony’s presence. He was still trying to get the man to see _him_ as more than just a kid.

“Cross my heart,” Ned made the symbol over his chest, “I will be SO cool, Peter, you don’t have to worry. Have I ever mentioned how awesome it is to be friends with you?”

Peter smiled, glad things were back to normal again, “Yeah, I could say the same thing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment if you have a spare moment!!! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
